Beef + Lamb New Zealand Welcomes Government Support For PGP

29 January 2013Beef + Lamb New Zealand Welcomes
Government Support For PGP Programme

Beef +
Lamb New Zealand Chairman, Mike Petersen has welcomed the
announcement by Wayne McNee, Director-General of the
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), of the Ministry’s
commitment of up to $32.4 million from the Primary Growth
Partnership Fund (PGP) for the red meat sector’s proposed
$65 million, seven year, Collaboration for Sustainable
Growth programme.

“This will be a huge boost
for the sector and will accelerate progress in an
increasingly collaborative approach across a range of issues
that are important for sheep and beef farmers,” Mr
Petersen said.

The Collaboration programme
involves industry participants AFFCO, Alliance Group Ltd,
ANZCO Foods, ANZ Bank, Beef + Lamb New Zealand, Blue Sky
Meats, Deloitte, Progressive Meats, Rabobank and Silver Fern
Farms, who following approval and contracting processes will
match MPI’s investment and establish a joint venture
entity to undertake the programme. The programme is open to
new investors who can join once the programme starts.

Following approval and a commitment to co-fund the
programme by MPI, farmers will now be asked to vote to
support the farmer contribution for the programme through
Beef + Lamb New Zealand. This will total up to $2.8 million
per annum over seven years or a total of $19.7 million.
Farmers will be asked to contribute approximately 30% of the
total programme investment. With the other 70% coming from
government and industry participants, the vote by farmers to
be undertaken alongside the Beef + Lamb New Zealand Annual
Meeting on the 8th March will enable the programme to
progress.

“Beef + Lamb New Zealand has been
working increasingly closely with meat processors in recent
years through our joint venture market development
programmes and collectively with processors and exporters
via the Meat Industry Association (MIA). This opportunity
extends that approach to supporting farmers behind the farm
gate to help improve productivity and profitability.
That’s very exciting and supports the tighter linkage and
better communication across the farm gate that the sector
has been looking for.

“The Collaboration
programme also directly addresses a number of the issues
highlighted in the Red Meat Sector Strategy that was
developed by Beef + Lamb New Zealand, the MIA and government
in 2011. Success in this programme will help farmers to
unlock the opportunities identified behind the farm gate for
better profitability.”

As well as strongly
involving processors, the programme also builds on new
relationships with banks such as ANZ and Rabobank and with
the professional services firm Deloitte, to support the farm
business as well as our traditional work in farm
management,” Mr Petersen said.

Beef + Lamb New
Zealand will be seeking farmer support over the coming weeks
to invest the funds from a combination of New Zealand Meat
Board Reserves, Beef + Lamb New Zealand Reserves and levy
funds. Whilst New Zealand Meat Board approval and support is
also required through a prescribed NZMB process, no levy
increase will be required to support the programme.
Significant New Zealand Meat Board reserves levels would
still be retained in accordance with its policy of a
contingency fund to support market recovery in the event of
a significant biosecurity issue that disrupted New Zealand
meat exports.

Voting materials to support farmer
investment in this collaboration programme will be mailed to
farmers with B+LNZ annual meeting information in early
February, with the vote closing at the Beef + Lamb New
Zealand Annual Meeting on 8th March. Information sessions
will be held in each Beef + Lamb New Zealand region during
February.

About Beef + Lamb New
Zealand:Beef + Lamb New Zealand Ltd is the
farmer owned industry organisation representing New
Zealand’s sheep and beef farmers. Beef + Lamb New Zealand
Ltd invests farmer levies to help develop a growing sheep
and beef industry providing sustainable returns for future
generations. Beef + Lamb New Zealand has four programmes –
Farm, Market, People and Information – to deliver
innovative tools and services to support informed decision
making, and continuous improvement in market access, product
positioning and farming systems for New Zealand’s sheep
and beef sector.

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